Saddleback Valley Trails

Vol 4 No 3 Editor: Pat Weeks
March 1997

South Orange County California Genealogical Society

P.O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo CA 92660

SOCCGS Events

Monthly Meetings are scheduled for the third Saturday of each month
and are held from 10:00 AM to Noon at the Institute Building of the LDS Family
History Center on Marguerite Parkway between Medical Center Drive and Hillcrest Drive.

15 March 1997 This month's topic will be "Military Resources at the
National Archives" presented by Bill Doty. Mr. Doty is an archivist at the
local National Archives in Laguna Niguel and is currently in charge of the
volunteer program there.

19 April 1997 SOCCGS member Kathie Mauzey will speak to the group on
"Getting Started in English Research".

17 May 1997 Beth McCarty, Director of the Orange Family History Center will present "Effective Use of the Family History Center".

Other Local Events

1 March 1997 The Orange County Calilfornia Genealogical Society will hold a Book Fair at their regular meeting, beginning at 9:30 AM at the
Huntington Beach Central Library on Talbert Street.

These are used books and periodicals which are duplicates and no longer needed
at the library. Beginning at Noon, the afternoon workshops feature Bill Tieppe
on German Research; Rod Bush, Computer IBM Compatible; and Computer Roots IV
with Lloyd Budwig.

22 March 1997 British Isles & So Bay Cities Gen. Soc. Seminar with
guest speakers Linda Jonas on how to access sources of the British Isles and
Nancy Carlbury on sources for England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Redondo
Beach Community Center. For more info, call (310)326-7008

29 March 1997 The Heritage Quest Workshop which was to be held by
Questing Heirs in Long Beach, has been cancelled.

Shirley Fraser reports that our Safari group will now meet at the
parking lot where we now hold our monthly meetings.

The March 26th safari is planned for Los Angeles Public Library.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES

New microfilm has been received at the National Archives. First is
the Passenger Arrival Records for the Port of New York City,
Publication Number M237. The facility has received the first 307 of 675 rolls
convering January 7, 1820 through March 31, 1869.

The other series is Microfilm Publication Number M1749, the Historical
Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Sawtelle CA,
1888-1933, with the first six rolls containing the index to this series.

REDISCOVERED SOURCES

The Veterans Administration has discovered some 10 million duplicates
of 20th century military records thought to have been destroyed in the 1973
fire. If you have been told the records you need were burned in that fire, you
may want to write again to:

National Personnel Records, GSA
900 Page Blvd.
St Louis MO 63132

Also, over one hundred boxes of pension records were found recently at the
National Archives in Washington D.C. They date back to the Revolutionary War,
the War of 1812, and the Seminole War. They were never indexed or microfilmed.
These files, arranged by account number, are being published in the American
Gen. Magazine by Datatrace Systems, P.O. Box 1587, Stephenville TX
76401.(from Smokey Valley, Salinas Kansas Newsletter, Jan 1997)

HISTORIAN NEEDED

Pat McCoy has recently resigned from the position of Historian,
and the Board is now looking for someone to agree to accept that
position.

LIBRARY SURVEY

In this newsletter you will find a survey which we ask you to
fill out and return to our Librarian, Betty McKenzie. Betty has taken on an
enormous job, and we must all think of what we can do to help make this new
library a success. The Board also wanted to ask if there was any member who
would agree to donate the Orange County Ca. Gen Society Journal Quarterly to
the Library.

PUBLICATION FOR SALE

Veterans Who Applied for Land in Southern California, 1851-1911
compiled by Judy Deeter is a wonderful source of veterans from the Mexican War
and Civil War who applied for land in Southern California between 1851 and
1911. This material was abstracted from the Bureau of Land Management Los
Angeles Land Office files at the National Archives Pacific Southwest Region in
Laguna Niguel, California.

Along with the name of the veteran applying for land, the following information
may be listed: date of military service, State and unit served from, address of
veteran at the time of application, physical description of veteran, occupation
prior to service, names of spouse and/or friends, and number of acres in land
application. The cost is $8.00, postage paid, CA residents add state sales
tax. Send orders to Judy A. Deeter, 4 Altezza Dr., Mission Viejo, CA
91619-5107. Make check payable to Judy.

AN IRISH TOAST

We drink to your coffin,

May it be built from the wood

of a hundred year old oak tree

That I shall plant tomorrow!

(The Septs, Irish Gen. Soc., Vol 14 No4)

RUSSIAN RESEARCH

The Library of Congress has Russian business directories for 1895,
1899, 1902, 1911-1912 amd 1923. Fast Check Gen. Service, 8510 Wild Olive Dr.,
Potomac, MD 20854, can check them to prove the presence or absence of a surname in a given town. They have contacts with 30 former Soviet archives and can advise American researchers on securing documents from them (From the San Ramon Valley Gen. Soc., Vol XII Jan 97 via The Genealogist, Conejo Valley GS Aug 96, printed in the Ca. State Gen Alliance Newsletter, Feb 1997)